Daily Manna · Day 73 · March 14
The Promise
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
In October 1743, a mob in the English town of Wednesbury dragged John Wesley through the streets for most of an evening. Afterwards he wrote that he lost only a flap of his waistcoat and a little skin from one of his hands, and he went on preaching. He had something the people threatening him did not have, and nothing they did could take it from him.
Now picture the room where this letter to the Hebrews was first read. It was written to people who had already lost their belongings. They had stood by friends in prison, and they were being tempted to go back to a religion that was safer. They were poorer than before. The writer knows all this. Three chapters earlier he reminds them that they "took joyfully the spoiling of your goods," which means they accepted with joy the looting of their property.
To those people he writes: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have." Conversation here means your whole way of life, and covetousness means always wanting more. That is a hard thing to say to someone who has just been robbed, and he knows it. So he gives the reason at once, quoting God's own words: "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." The Greek piles up "no" words in a way English cannot carry, so it comes out closer to "I will never, no never, no not ever let you go." Then he gives the conclusion the readers are meant to draw for themselves: "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
Perhaps a name still makes your stomach drop. Someone left, and a quiet part of you decided that leaving is what people always do in the end. God's promise answers that part of you directly, because He is the One who does not leave.
So test the other things you have been leaning on to feel safe. Choose one thing you buy to feel secure, like the upgrade, the subscription, or the savings you keep telling yourself are not enough yet. Say no to it once this week, on purpose, and notice that you are still held. If that frees up some money, send it somewhere it is needed. The God who will never leave you is better security than anything you can buy.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 73 is Gave the Sense (Nehemiah 8:8).